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Bonjour Igor, With pleasure indeed ! "Sending attached to His Excellency Lord Walpole the Cross of Ste Anne of the second class for Major Macdonald, and two crosses of the order of St Vladimir for Messrs. Captains Macleod and Montaigu, of whom his Majesty the Emperor has accepted to decorate these 3 officers for the blockade and siege of Danzig, the Duke of Wurtemberg takes eagerly advantage of this occasion to renew the expression of his highest consideration to His Excellency." Note that the structure of this translation is somehow a bit "heavy", on a commendable effort on my part to convey the "heavy" structure of the original French text Meilleures salutations, J?r?me

Bonjour Marcin, Your document appears to be dated 1858. In the 1856 Schematismus, Oberlieutenant Heinrich Ritter von Sienkiewicz is listed in the Schematismus among the officers of Infanterie Regiment Nr.30, stationned at Lemberg : In the 1850 Schematismus, Heinrich Siekiewicz (note yet another different spelling) was "Unterlieutenant 1. Classe" in the same Regiment. In the 1848 Schematismus, Heinrich Sienkiewicz was "Cadet" in the same Regiment. By that time, the Regiments were known by the name of their Oberstinhaber, or Proprietary Colonel. For the IR30 it was "Lavall Graf Nugent, r?mischer F?rst, FM" (Feldmarschall), since...1815 ! LEMBERG is the German name for the Galician town also known as ...Lviv, L'vov, Lvov, L'wiw, Lwiw, Leopolis, Leopoli, or Lwow. Today in Ukraine. Re. his title, this lifted from Wikipedia : Ritter is the lowest-ranking title of lower nobility, in German-speaking areas, considered equal to the title Knight. When used before the first name ("Ritter Manfred Richthofen"), it is the equivalent of chivalric titles in the English-speaking world, and so is directly equivalent to a knighthood. When used with "von" as part of the surname ("Manfred Ritter von Richthofen"), it is an hereditary knighthood, and so is closer to the British baronetcy, which gives the holder the English title "Sir," but indicates the lowest grade of landed aristocracy ("Sir Henry Percy, Baronet"), an inherited title but one which does not entitle one to participation as a peer in the House of Lords for instance. And I think that's about it from me ! Salutations, J?r?me

That's some fantastic stuff you have here igor ! Looks quite clear that your "Mackenzee" belong to the RHA then. As for Lord Walpole, he obvioulsy had some diplomatic role : July 27th 1812. General Viscount Cathcart's embassy to the Court of Russia left the Roadstead in the frigate " Aquilon." Lord Walpole, secretary of Legation to Lord Cathcart, sailed in the " Calipso" to the head.-quarters of the Russian army. Cheers, J?r?me

Igor, Here's your Major Macdonald I think - and he's Royal Horse Artillery : Published in The Times, Monday, Dec 27, 1813 (From the LONDON GAZETTE, Saturday, Dec. 25) Published in The Times, Monday, May 25, 1840 : DIED On the 21st inst., at Leamington, Major-General Alexander Macdonald, CB, K. st. A., Royal Artillery. Salutations, J?r?me

Sure Igor - what a neatly clean hand-writing here ! "Duke Alexandre de W?rtemberg is honoured to announce to His Excellency Lord Walpole, that with respect to his representations, His Imperial Majesty willing to reward the services rendered during the siege of Danzig by Major Macdonald in the service of His British Majesty, has decided to grant him the Order of Ste Anne of the Second Class, as well as that of St Wladimir of the 4th Class to Captains Macleod and Montagu. The Duke joins 20 Crosses of St George of the 5th Class, for the low-officers and soldiers, whose zeal and bravery had been particularly commended by their Chiefs, the list of whom he has the honour of joining as well. Duke Alexandre de Wurtemberg takes advantage of this occasion to ensure his Excellency Lord Walpole of his highest regard." Salutations, J?r?me

Bonjour Igor, Is it that sort of information you're after ? Published by The Times on Thursday, November 4th, 1813 (London Gazette Extraordinary, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1813) : Salutations, J?r?me

Thanks Laurence. Trick with all kinds of Volunteer Units is actually to get to the page referrencing the Units per County (last link). It seems there's more stuff than in the alphabetical/numerical lists. By any account it's waaaaay more conveniently organized for that kind of question. To get there from the Home page (it's not that well advertized actually) : 1- Click on "Regiments" 2- Click on either "Alphabetic Index" or "Numeric Index" of the UK section 3- In the "See also British" box (before the list) you have the following options : - English County Index of Militia and Volunteers - Irish County Index of Militia and Volunteers - Scottish County Index of Militia and Volunteers - Welsh County Index of Militia and Volunteers Cheers, Jerome

Bonjour RA Collector, The reference for all things British regiments : www.regiments.org You'll find refs. to Favesham in th page for the 1st KAV. 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/volm.../varty/ke-1.htm 2nd Kent Artillery Volunteers http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/volm.../varty/ke-2.htm 3rd Kent Artillery Volunteers http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/volm.../varty/ke-3.htm 4th Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/volm...arty/ke-458.htm More Kent units : http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/lists/mvcxeng.htm Cheers, Jerome

Bonjour, For those of you with a specific interests in Military CDVs etc, I'd like to announce the recent creation of a Newsgroup dedicated to the very subject. It was opened by Michael Hargreave Mawson...yesterday (so I mean "recent") http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilitaryPortraits/ Here's the little intro : "Collecting Military Portraits Welcome to the Collecting Military Portraits group! Open to collectors of military portraits of all types and periods up to the outbreak of the First World War, the group has been created to facilitate the exchange of information about portraits of military men in photographs, lithographs, oils, watercolours, pastels, pen-and-ink, pencil and other media. If you are seeking information about a portrait, about an artist or photographer, about a particular military sitter, about a uniform or uniform detail, or about anything else connected with military portraiture, this is the group for you. Also welcome, of course, are collectors who have information to impart! It goes without saying that members are actively encouraged to upload digital copies of images in their collections to the Photos section of the group website. " The theme will mostly revolve around British and Indian Army subjects, but with no exclusive. Cheers, Jerome

Bonjour Barry, Many different ships were named "L'Agile". I think some detail about yours can be found here : http://www.netmarine.net/dico/tome1-a.pdf AGILE - Schooner of T?l?graphe Class (1799-1815) Shipyard : Entreprise Crucy, Nantes Started : April 1799 Launched : June 1799 In service : July 1799 Retired : June 1815 Characteristics : 70t, 25 x 6.2 x 2.7 meteres ; II + XVIII. pierriers (that should be the kind of guns) Observations : June 1815 : taken by the English off Guadeloupe August 1815 : Condemned in Martinique. It is also mentioned on that page : http://perso.orange.fr/jdtr/Bouchet1.htm This is the history of Louis Bouchet, a Naval Surgeon. here's the relevant extract : "Un peu plus de deux ans s'?taient ?coul?s depuis son arriv?e ? Rochefort; nous ?tions alors en guerre avec l'Angleterre, on armait beaucoup de navires et le personnel des chirurgiens ?tait insuffisant; on d?t avoir recours aux ?l?ves les plus capables de l'Ecole et mon p?re fut charg?, ? dix huit ans ? peine, du service m?dical ? bord de la go?lette l'Agile. C'?tait une grande responsabilit?, mais c'?tait aussi une ?cole pratique dont il sut profiter. Le petit b?timent sur lequel il faisait son apprentissage m?dico-maritime croisa quelque temps en rade de l'?le d'Aix et dans le golfe de Gascogne, sans qu'il lui arriv?t m?saventure; puis il rentra ? Rochefort et mon p?re fut embarqu? sur le brig l'Abeille,(...)" "A little more than two years had passed since his arrival at Rochefort (NB: that makes it 1802); we were at war with England then, many ships were being armed and there were not enough surgeons ; the most able students were requisited, and my father was charged, at barely 18, of medical service on board the schooner Agile. It was agreat responsibility, but also a practical school he knew how to take advantage of. The small vessel aboard which he was making his medical and maritime apprenticeship cruised for a while around the Ile d'Aix and in the Bay of Biscaye, without any mishaps; then she came back to Rochefort and my father was embarked on board the brig l'Abeille (...) Salutations, J?r?me

Bonsoir Graham, To my knowledge, the yellow band on the pillbox hat was adopted from the beginning by all branches of the RA (RHA and RA). As for the uniforms of RGA and RFA, they were basically the same, and differences were minor, as explained on this EXCELLENT website : http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/army...rtillery/ra.htm Cheers ! Jerome (still kickin', are they, those dead threads ? )

Hi Graham, It's definitely a thing with Yellow : Photographers first used Orthochromatic processes, only sensitive to cold colors like blue and cyan, so warm colors like orange and yellow appear quite dark in the B/W image. Here's an interesting example : look at the medals of this (French) Naval Officer : Now a closer look at his China Medal, on the right, is interesting : the 1861 French China Medal's ribbon was some bright YELLOW, with the name of the city of Pekin (ok, Beijing...) written in BLUE : You'll see how the photographic process is very sensitive to blue (quite light coloured) and not to yellow. It seems that the way the material of the ribbons reflected light makes this distortion more pronouced with medals. Anyway it gets some time, but you get used to it : For instance the British Campaign Medal is a Crimea (wide very light central band = blue) and cannot be a Baltic (the yellow central band would turn out quite dark). Cheers, Jerome

Bonsoir, They look a lot like "Prinz Eitel Friedrich und Braut" to me... Sorry I do'nt know about the orders ! Jerome

Bonsoir Peter, I was just thinking that the casual reader may not know what exactly Yeomanry was. Thanks for your kind words ! Jerome

Bonjour, Peter the Yeomanry units were volunteer units indeed, hence it's quite normal for them to keep their civilian haircuts and facial hair for their odd week of training and camplife. The regulations you're referring to concern the moustaches, made mandatory in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars for instance. Yeomanry in Lancashire consisted in the Duke of Lancaster's Hussars (his uniform doesn't seem to match with what I've seen), and the Lancashire Yeomanry (white laced uniforms, and a Rose of Lancaster as a symbol). Soldiers coming back from a campaign were to my knowledge allowed to retain their beards for quite a while - but they often seem to sport a much fuller beard, and they usually had campaign medals. Actually could he belong to some Volunteer Artillery / Engineers unit ? The grenade was also a symbol of Artillery to the best of my knowledge. And there was no lack of them in the area of Liverpool ! In any case it's not gonna be easy to make him out ! Cheers, Jerome

Wouldn't he be from a volunteer unit ? His beard and haircut don't look much like 1860s Army... There's a list of units serving / period / county on regiments.org : http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/lists/mvcxeng.htm PLENTY of units in Lancashire by that era... Jerome

Hi Eduardo, Looks to me like the uniform of a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Quite an older chap, though, for a lieutenant ! Very nice CDV ! You have more of those to show us ? Jerome

No no, the CDV is definitely 1870s. The second cockade was btw instituted in 1893. And the regiment left Trier for Strassburg in 1896. Jerome

Hello gentlemen, I'm reviving this thread for the sake of the medal to the Red Eagle Order. I do have a photo showing a recipient ; and would like to get your feel about it : This gentleman is a Senior NCO called Erich Prieger (likely Vize-Wachtmeister, but maybe wachtmeister - can't make up my mind about the cuff lace- note the Officer's sword and sword-knot) in Husarenregiment nr.9. It was taken in the 1870s (backplate dedicated in either 1874 or 1879) Here's something of a closeup on the chest : And the questions : - Is that the Medal of the Red Eagle Order all right ? - What is the other Medal ? The backplate is laden with information, some of which might help ; but I must admit my problem with decyphering handwritten German Thanks for your help ! Jerome

Very nice collection Just for the record : Dan, the legend on your "Cousins" postcard is wrong - both wearing Prussian uniforms. George V is wearing the uniform of K?rassier-Regiment Graf Ge?ler (Rheinisches) Nr. 8 - of which he bacame Chef c. 1908. The Tsar is wearing his uniform as Chef of Husaren Regiment Nr.8. This regiment was not fitted with the Pelisse, BUT Colonels in Chief and Generals "? la suite" of Hussars Regiment were granted one - that can be recognized by its brown fur lining. The photo was taken at the occasion of the wedding of Ernst August v. Braunschweig-L?neburg (late "of Cumberland") with the Kaiser's only daughter, Viktoria Luise. They married on 24th may 1913, in Berlin - and that was to be the last big gathering of European Royalty. It was customary since the mid-1800s for royalty to wear the uniform of "their" local Regiment when visiting a country. It is said that Emperor Wilhelm I started the trend when visiting Austria after the 1866 war, not willing to further infuriate the defeated Austrians. Jerome

Bonjour David, Great photo ! Well it is quite certain that your chap belongs to a Guard Regiment ; beside the Star, he is wearing on his colllar the "Litzen" (lace) of the Guards. Do his shoulder boards bear the Crowned Mongogram of the Empress of Russia ? The "2. Garde-Dragoner-Regiment Kaiserin Alexandra von Ru?land" were stationned in Berlin, had a light blue uniform with red facings. The white plume 's replaced the typical Prussian spike for parades indeed (same helmet base though). By the way, the big button you see on his collar (on the "Litzen") is present on each side of the collar ; they are called "Heraldic Buttons" and are a mark of rank. Your man would be some kind of NCO - I can't exactly say what rank as the marks of rank were a combination of buttons, lace and sword knots. The latter were quite important in the Imperial German Army. Just for the record, this type of photograph is called a "Cabinet Card" : the hard photographer's plate makes it quite different from a postcard (and nicer to hold !). The term "Cabinet Card" originates from the fact that those photos where often framed and displayed in, well, Cabinets ; see on the table this example : They became popular in the 1880s, and are very typical of the 1890-1910 period (though they continued to be produced until after the war, especially in Eastern Europe). The backplate of your photograph has a very "Art Nouveau" style, typical of the 1910s ; and the Iron Cross tells it all anyway Welcome to the fabulous world of Photo collecting ! Jerome

Thanks Rick ; Then I guess what they considered "Important" probably tells much about them : I seem to recall an example where an officer, otherwise entitled to the Milit?r Maria-Theresien-Orden (!) , and the ?sterreichisch-kaiserlische Orden der eisernen Krone (with KD), on photos with only the MVK. Did the MVK generate the same kind of "mystic" as the Iron Cross in Germany ? Jerome

Bonjour, I have observed something on XIXth century photographs (I'm talking 1860s) that I don't quite understand ; I don't get the whole picture and ...that's been bugging me ! - Some high-ranking officers appear on photographs wearing a whole rack of medals and orders ; - While on other photographs (contemporary) the same officers are only wearing their MVK (KD). Anyone can explain that to me ? Have I been dreaming ? Thanks ! Jerome

About these books, and just in case someone reading this considers purchasing them (well they don't come that cheap), I'd precise that they do offer wonderful detailed photographs of period pieces indeed, but I'd be cautious in calling them "reference books". There are a few points that may be discussed in that respect: - Not much text altogether - The uniforms are presented "subject to availability" of period pieces - A couple errors / inaccuracies here and there. Overall, the reading of that book is a very enjoyable experience, as there are some wonderful photos of fantastic pieces - and the printing is top quality. Still there is an aftertaste of... I'd say near-confusion, as you're not quite sure what's missing ; it really feels that the book was structured around what pieces were available (and again, there are lots of gorgeous ones) Jerome

Nice indeed ! I am not familiar with Cuirassiers (at all !), but it's the first time I see such a toned cuirass - and the tunic is certainly not dark blue. Any idea when that photo was taken ?